[Antiracism] [EFCA] Fix US Human Rights Violation

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

Human Rights Watch: Employee Free Choice Is a Human Right

	

by Seth Michaels, Jan 27, 2009,
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/01/27/human-rights-watch-employee-free-choice-is
-a-human-right/

http://blog.aflcio.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hrw.jpgUnder current labor
law, the United States is strikingly deficient in protecting freedom of
association and the freedom to form unions, says a new report by Human
Rights Watch (HRW <http://www.hrw.org/> ), an independent human-rights
advocacy group. The solution? Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice
Act <http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/brokensystem.cfm> .

In a new report,
<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/efca2009_web.pdf> The
Employee Free Choice Act: A Human Rights Imperative, HRW lays out the case
for its quick passage to restore workers' freedom to form unions without
fear of harassment, coercion or termination. The report is part of HRW's
critical work as watchdogs for human rights, the freedom of association and
the treatment of workers from Colombia
<http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/15/unions-human-rights-leaders-vow-to-keep-f
ighting-colombia-trade-deal/>  to India
<http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/11/13/time-to-end-child-labor-now/>  and around
the world.

The report analyzes international labor standards the United States has
agreed to by treaty, points out where it's deficient in meeting those
standards and explains how the Employee Free Choice will remedy the
situation and restore workers' fundamental freedom to form unions and
bargain for a better life.

Congress should pass the Employee Free Choice Act to help remedy glaring
deficiencies in current U.S. labor law that significantly impair the right
of workers to freely choose whether to form a union. Workers' right to
organize and bargain collectively is well established under international
human rights law.the United States is legally bound to protect this
fundamental right. In practice, it falls far short, and failure by U.S.
employers to respect workers' right to freedom of association is rampant.

In particular, HRW's report points to three serious flaws in U.S. labor law
that are addressed by the Employee Free Choice Act:

*	Unfair election procedures that are badly slanted toward employers,
giving the employer, in practice, the ultimate say over how workers form a
union:

U.S. law also allows employers to refuse to recognize a union based on
freely signed authorizations by a clear majority of workers explicitly
indicating their desire to organize-a "card check"-and demand instead that a
union demonstrate majority support through an NLRB election. The period
leading up to that election, lasting at least several weeks but often
longer, creates an opening for anti-union employers to make aggressive use
of the tilted playing field.

*	The lack of serious penalties for corporate misconduct, including
intimidation and firing of workers, and the ability of companies to
indefinitely delay and deter attempts to form a union:

Penalties for breaching U.S. labor law are so minor that employers often
treat them as a cost of doing business-a small price to pay for defeating
worker organizing efforts. Under U.S. labor law, an employer faces no
punitive penalties and few, if any, economic consequences for violating
workers' right to freedom of association.

*	The ability of companies to ignore workers' choice to bargain
collectively by refusing to reach a fair contract:

Even if U.S. workers successfully organize, however, their fundamental right
to freedom of association is still not fully secure because of shortcomings
in current legal provisions governing collective bargaining..Because there
are no significant negative repercussions for illegal conduct.there is
little incentive for intransigent employers to comply with the law.

The message of HRW's report is clear: under existing U.S. law, the freedom
to form unions and bargain is a hope, not a reality, for millions of
workers. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act will go a long way toward
making sure the United States lives up to its obligations to protect
workers' fundamental and internationally recognized right to form a union
and bargain for a better life.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Win the Employee Free Choice Act - visit
<http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/> http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/,
<http://jwj.org/freechoice/index.html> http://jwj.org/freechoice/index.html,
and  <http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion> http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion. 

 

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